


Musings of an Operations Officer

by AXEe



Series: Musings [4]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, F/F, F/M, Gen, Harry is like a giant trouble magnet, Slight spoilers for "Hope and Fear" and "The Haunting of Deck Twelve"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-28 20:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12614476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: Harry muses on his friendship with Seven, Tom, and B'Elanna.  And his terrible luck





	Musings of an Operations Officer

**Author's Note:**

> We're back! More "Musings" up, enjoy! :=)

******

Harry had to wonder just _how_ he got himself into these situations. How was it that, out of all of the people on the ship, he alone could turn a simple planetary survey into a rescue mission? With himself as the missing person.

Taking a breath, he edged a bit back along the narrow ledge he was currently trapped on, the ground above had given way and he'd fallen--slid really--down a shallow embankment to land precariously on this very narrow ledge which hung over a gorge that dropped down....well...he didn't really want to know how far it dropped down. Suffice to say, it looked like he'd have a very long time to say goodbye if he went over.

And the day had started out _so_ well...

******

He'd woken up, gotten to Bridge and found a small box on his station, neatly wrapped with a bow, a note attached to it had read _'To Ensign Harry Kim. From Seven of Nine. Happy Birthday'_.

Tucking the gift away for later--although not before, Tom, Commander Chakotay and the Captain had all seen and smiled--Harry had to admit how much Seven had changed. Just a year ago, she would have ignored his birthday--anyone's birthday, really--and probably would have launched into a lecture about what a primitive practice celebrating birthdays was.

But she had changed a lot in the last few years. After all, as he found out once he got off shift, not only had Seven actually gotten him a gift, she got him something she thought he'd liked, a compilation of various jazz and classical pieces written or preformed by clarinet or the saxophone.

When she had first come aboard Harry had been slightly annoyed to learn that he was the only person on the entire ship, outside of possibly The Doctor and the Captain who had shown any friendly overtones to the young woman (and, OK, if he was being totally honest with himself, the idea that _something_ between him and Seven might develop had crossed his mind more than a few times. It was kind of hard to ignore how attractive she was when The Doctor insisted on squeezing her into those tight suits).

Having Seven proposition him had been startling to say the least. Scary if he was being honest, and he'd avoided her like the plague for the next couple of weeks. When he finally worked up the courage to work with her on building the new Astrometrics lab, he found that, skillfully hidden beneath that frosty Borg exterior, was a scared and uncertain little girl.

He'd abandoned any romantic thoughts right then and there and had settled on being Mr. Reliable, offering a shoulder to cry if Seven ever needed it (which had promptly caused Seven to ask why she would need to cry on his shoulder).

As the years passed, he and others watched how Seven had slowly, but surely, matured. Growing from a cold, heartless Borg drone, into a quiet, frighteningly smart, sensitive, and sweet young woman. He remembered when he'd first seen her smile, it was while the two of them were examining the _Dauntless_ , the false Federation ship created by an alien who'd wanted revenge on the crew for stopping Species 8472 from destroying the Borg. After Harry had commented that Earth wouldn't be the same without Seven, she had smiled, it was a small smile, more of a smirk really, but it was a smile.

As time went on, Harry saw how Seven had grown, the only difference was that she didn't _show_ this development to others, only to a select few, of which Harry was one

"Why not show it people?" he'd asked one day, while he and she crawled through the Jefferies tubes to find a pesky metal-eating parasite that had already munched its way through two PADDs and a hypospray and was working its way towards the engines

"I don't...like people," Seven replied "they make me uncomfortable," she explained "also," she smirked "I find that I...enjoy surprising them when I reveal that I understand a cultural reference"

Harry had chuckled, it seemed that Seven was a bit of a prankster.

Finding out that she and the Captain were dating was surprising, and Harry was ashamed to admit that he had the most trouble processing it. It wasn't that he thought there was anything _wrong_ with it, if anything, Janeway and Seven both needed each other after all they'd sacrificed for the ship and crew. But he still had trouble wrapping his head around it for the longest time

"I mean how did we not notice?" he demanded of Tom one day

Tom sighed, lowering his ray gun as the enemy troops approached, ordering the compute end the program "I'm not doing this again, Harry" Tom sighed as he marched out of the holodeck into the corridor

"No, Tom," Harry sighed "look, I don't have a problem with it, it's just...how did no one notice?"

Tom shrugged "Probably because just like everyone else, you didn't _want_ to notice"

Harry blinked, confused "What the hell does _that_ mean?" he demanded

"Look," Tom began "I think a lot of us have this idea about Seven and Janeway. I think we can't help but still see Seven as nothing more than a Borg drone and the Captain as, well, the Captain. We can't look at them as actual people with thoughts and feelings"

That had actually made sense, Harry had to admit, he had probably still been looking at Seven as someone who hadn't quite matured to that level yet and as Janeway, as...well...Janeway, someone who was totally asexual, the words 'in a relationship' and 'Captain Janeway' just didn't fit together in Harry's mind. Eventually, however, he'd gotten used to it, and even told Seven the good news

"That is fortunate," Seven had deadpanned "I would hate to have to assimilate you"

Harry _really_ hoped she'd been joking.

Another surprise had followed that one. Namely he had a date today with the lovely Tal Celes. Ever since he helped Seven complete work on the new lab, he'd been down there every other day. Originally it'd been to see Seven, and in the course of those visits he'd bumped into the young Bajoran, unsurprising since she did work there, but lately it had seemed like that she was always there, even when Seven wasn't

"It's not just me, right?" he'd asked Seven one day "I mean, it's like she's always here"

"I believe she is attracted to you" Seven replied

"Wha, wait, you think she likes me?" Harry asked, startled

"I never said that she 'likes' you, Harry, I merely said that she was attracted to you"

Talking to Seven was always great for his ego. It really was

"So, if, if she's 'attracted' me, what do I do?" Harry asked, sprinting after her as she left the lab and moved down the corridor at a quick pace

"I am not your keeper, Harry. That is entirely up to you"

So he asked Tal Celes out. She was pretty, and like all Bajoran women, feisty, the memory of walking down a darkened corridor during that time that nebula creature took over the ship, only to round the corner and get a toolkit to his midsection still made him chuckle. To his great relief, Tal had agreed to the date.

Now he just needed to get off this damn ledge...

******

Tom scowled at his tricorder

"Damn it, only Harry could do this, I swear" he fumed

"Ensign Kim does have a proclivity for getting into 'sticky situations'." Seven agreed, pushing a branch out of her way

"Yeah, he does," Tom muttered, he looked up at her "hey, did I hear that Harry's got a date tonight?"

"He does," Seven confirmed "with crewman Tal Celes"

"Huh," Tom remarked "maybe that'll work out for him"

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, let's face it," Tom shrugged "Tal Celes is basically a female Harry"

The branch Seven was holding back suddenly snapped back into his face

"OW!"

"I apologize, my hand slipped"

" 'Slipped', my foot!" Tom rubbed at his nose "am I bleeding?" he asked

Seven turned to look at him "You are fine"

"Thanks, got a date with B'Elanna tonight," Tom muttered, scrutinizing his tricorder again "wouldn't want to show up with splinters in my face"

Seven sighed "This is inefficient," she closed the device and tucked back into her waist. Cupping her hands over her mouth she suddenly bellowed out "HARRY!!!!"

"Oh and yelling isn't 'inefficient'?" Tom wondered, wincing and rubbing at his ears

"SEVEN!!"

They both turned at the shout

"I take it back," Tom muttered as they tore through the underbrush, quickly sliding to a stop at the cliff edge "Harry?"

"Tom?! I'm down here!"

Both looking down, Tom smirked at Seven "Only Harry"

"Yeah, yeah," Harry rolled his eyes "just get me out of here, will you?"

"One moment," Seven ducked over a tree and quickly sliced off a long vine with her phaser "here," she dangled the vine off the edge towards Harry "climb up"

It took a bit of doing, but Harry quickly scrambled up the vine and back onto solid ground

"Harry," Tom began as Harry lay, panting for breath, on the ground "just how the hell do you get yourself into these situations?"

******

"So, how's Harry?" Kathryn asked as she settled down on the couch in her quarters

"He seems well," Seven nodded, taking the mug of warm coco from Kathryn "he avoided sick bay and has already gone on his date with Crewman Celes"

"Oh really?" Kathryn raised an eyebrow "hmm, and how's that going?"

"According to Tom, it's going quite well"

"Do I want to know why or how Tom is getting this information?"

"Most likely not"

"No," Kathryn shook her head "I didn't think so"

"Enough talk," Seven declared, she pulled the older woman closer "kiss me" she requested

Kathryn chuckled "Gladly" she breathed as she leaned in for a kiss...

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought :=)


End file.
